India and Russia have approved an extension to the range of the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, doubling it to 600 kilometers, according to an official with the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The official pointed out that the range of the joint venture missile can now be increased because of India’s entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which provides the country with opportunities for foreign collaboration on the missile technology.

The two countries came to agreement Oct.26 at a meeting here of the 16th Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation, co-chaired by Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Russian counterpart, Gen. Sergei Shoigu.

The increased range of the BrahMos will double the standoff engagement range to 600 kilometers for practically every platform that uses the cruise missile. Currently, the BrahMos is warship-launched and land-based, while the air version is still in the testing phase and likely will be adopted by year end.

“With 300-kilometers range, the BrahMos had to be deployed relatively closer to the intended area. Now there would be greater flexibility in terms of deployment areas, thereby imparting surprise,” according to Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier and defense analyst.

The BrahMos cruise missile project is produced by India-based BrahMos Aerospace, set up in 1998, and is a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia.

According to a scientist at DRDO, “only very minor changes in software and hardware are required” to increase the range.

An Indian Navy official backed this claim. “BrahMos is a re-engineered version of [the] Russian P-800 Oniks/Yakhont anti-ship missile, and no major modification is required to achieve 600-kilometers range,” the official said.

Bhonsle agrees that the range of the BrahMos missile currently in use has a 600-kilometer range.

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A 4,000 km long border between India and China remains unsettled due to historical reasons.
China has constructed 14 major airbases in the Tibetan Plateau and there are about 20 airstrips.
China has plans to extend the rail network up to the Tibetan town of Dromo, which is near Nathu La and Sikkim. China is deploying ICBMs DF-31 and DF-31A north of Tibet, which can target the entire Indian sub-continent.
So, extension of the range of the supersonic Brahmos cruise missile couldn’t have come sooner – as it’ll double the standoff engagement range for practically every platform that uses the cruise missile, to 600 kilometers. 👏🏼👏🏼
And the good news according to DRDO, “only very minor changes in software and hardware are required” to increase the range.

Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh said that we should have the first indigenous aircraft carrier IAC-1 (INS Vikrant) fully operational by the year 2022 and it will operate with the MiG-29K.
The Navy had begun inducting the first version of BrahMos cruise missile system in all of its frontline warships from 2005. So, the vessels accompanying the aircraft carrier will also carry the newer 600 km range variant of the BrahMos missile.
The first four Talwar -class missile frigates are to be re-equipped with a new eight-cell vertical launch system (VLS) and a shipborne control unit for launching the BrahMos SLCM [sea-launched cruise missile]. The SLCM variant reportedly can fly 3-4 meters above the sea to avoid detection, while travelling at speeds of up to Mach 3.0.
This will replace the Russian-made 3M-54E Klub-B anti-ship missile as the vessel’s primary weapon system.

Just over an year ago, the then Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that apart from modernizing the eight existing advanced landing grounds, there were plans to build seven additional airfields in areas bordering China.
In April 2018, after reactivating the Pasighat Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG), the IAF had landed a Sukhoi Su-30 and C-17 Globemaster there. The C-17 transport aircraft is the heaviest aircraft with the Air Force.
A month earlier, the IAF had landed its C-17 Globemaster at Tuting ALG, just a few miles away from the line of actual control (LAC) — the de facto border between India and China.
Recently, responding to a question by Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh said, “India is developing infrastructure like roads, tunnels, railway lines, and airfields on the China border to ensure the unity, security and sovereignty of the country.”

The IAF had test fired an air-launched BrahMos-A supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI in December 2017. Two IAF Su-30 MKI fighter jets have been converted to fire the 2.5-ton supersonic air-to-surface cruise missile. The IAF plans to retrofit up to 40 Su-30 MKI’s to carry and launch the BrahMos-A by the end of the year.
The Sukhoi Su-30 has a range of 3,600 km, which can be extended with midair refuelling. Arming it with an 600-km range supersonic cruise missile will increase strike capability tremendously.
The missile, which operates on a ‘fire and forget’ principle, can be dropped from 500 to 14,000 meters (1,640 to 46,000 feet). The BrahMos, which travels at speeds of up to Mach 3.0, is one of the world’s fastest cruise missiles.

India joining the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in June 2018 enabled Russia to work with India to produce the 600 km BrahMos missiles.
MTCR guidelines prohibit its members from transfer, sale or joint production of missiles beyond 300-km range with countries outside the club.
Ballistic missiles are powered for the initial half of their flight path and they use gravity to complete their trajectory. But cruise missiles are powered throughout.
Brahmos’ earlier range of 300 km, made it impossible to hit targets deep inside Pakistan with the supersonic cruise missile. Now, with a 600 kms range, it’s a different story.

A squadron of Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter aircraft, equipped with the BrahMos-A (Air) supersonic cruise missile, was commissioned at Thanjavur Air Force Station in Tamil Nadu, on India’s south-east coast.
The location was selected for the recently re-activated No. 222 ‘Tiger Sharks’ Squadron because of easy access to both the eastern and western seaboards and the wider Indian Ocean Region (IOR), which would provide increased protection to our island territories, sea lines of communication and military/economic interests in the IOR. The Su-30MKI has a combat radius of almost 1,500 km without mid-air refuelling.
The No. 222 Tigersharks squadron was raised at Ambala in 1969 with Sukhoi Su-7. In 1985, the became the first Indian squadron to be equipped with the now ‘retired’ MiG-27. It has now being “resurrected,” with the Su-30MKI at Thanjavur. The squadron is expected to be equipped with its full complement of 18 licence-built Su-30MKIs by early 2021.
Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria said that the southern peninsula would also base a second Littoral Combat Ship Squadron.